


Woman (Reading)

by Maria21



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Observation is love, One-Shot, Poetry, Post Manga, Post canon, Reading, you know those days and those moments where everything is perfect and you are so happy to be alive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:28:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26382649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maria21/pseuds/Maria21
Summary: Kyo finds something new to observe and love about Tohru. A snippet of a perfect afternoon of Tohru and Kyo being in love and being able to express that through poetry.You know those days where everything is perfect, the simplest things make you so happy and spending time with the people you love is the best thing in the world? Thats the emotion I tried to capture.
Relationships: Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Woman (Reading)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I've never written fanfic for fruits basket before but I've been obsessed with Tohru and Kyo for almost a decade now and I had to write something. Find me on Tumblr @yearofthekyo  
> More notes about my inspiration at the end!

Woman (Reading) 

Kyo was returning early from teaching at Shishous dojo. One of the children had thrown up in the middle of the dojo which led to a domino effect of children crying and feeling sick. Kyo had just returned from cleaning up the very embarrassed little boy and telling him that all the greatest warrior threw up and that it just meant that he was really pushing himself which made him, as his sensei, very proud.   
“Yes of course I have thrown up whilst training ” he said in reply to the very muffled question he was just asked. “One time I threw up strawberries all over Shishou’s white robes and he had to throw them away because the stain wouldn’t come out at all”   
“Really?” A very tiny voice replied, but the little five year old seemed to believe him because he finally wiped away his tears and straightened his back.  
On his return he found that Shishou had called all of the parents of the children and cancelled the rest of the classes for the day in order to clean up properly and Kyo was free to go several hours earlier than expected. 

He walked back home contentedly. Up until the vomiting incident his morning had been very productive, and his pupils had tried very hard today. There was one or two of them who might become very good fighters. He opened up his bag to look for some kind of snack knowing that Tohru always managed to sneak some food into his bag without him realising. Today he found the largest peach he had ever seen in life. He laughed out loud at how ridiculous it was, he bit into it and thought about how much he loved Tohru and how excited he was to be able to spend a quiet afternoon together. He would ask her where she got the peach from. It was delicious. The peach combined with the sunshine and the blossoming trees to make him feel perfectly happy.

There was a rare calm in Shigure’s house today. Yuki was away for the weekend trying to sort out where he was going to live next year at university. Shigure’s location was always a mystery. Since the curse was lifted he seemed to be making it a point to experience all the things he had been writing about in his novels for so long. Perhaps that’s unfair to him. Perhaps he was just making the most of finally being able to spend time with the woman he loved and finally being able to spend less time with the three children unexpectedly thrust into his care. 

Kyo always entered the house near silently. Perhaps that was years of martial arts training or perhaps that was another cat like feature he inherited from the cat spirit. He didn’t call out for Tohru because his mouth was still full of peach. Very quickly he was pleased that he didn’t call attention to himself. He found Tohru sitting on the porch in the sunshine reading. Kyo had never really realised Tohru enjoyed reading for pleasure. He had never really seen her reading before but perhaps she never really got the chance with schoolwork, house work and her job. 

Kyo sat down to watch her as silently as he could. She looked fully engrossed in her book so she might not have heard anything anyway but he didn’t want to risk it. Tohru was leaning with her back against one of the pillars so Kyo had the perfect view of her in profile. The sun fell onto the pages of her book and onto her mostly bare legs. One leg was bent up at 45 degrees serving as a surface to rest her book on whilst the other leg hung carelessly off the porch. Kyo had never seen her sit like this. Completely relaxed and at ease. She was furrowing her forehead slightly. Frowning at her book. But the look wasn’t unhappy she just seemed to be truly concentrating. Occasionally she would bite her lip, at one point she brought her hand up to her mouth, her fingers lightly resting on her parted lips as her eyes widened and she began reading more rapidly. Kyo had the sudden ridiculous wish that he was the book lying in her lap and eliciting such reactions from her.   
There was a light breeze this afternoon and her hair waved lazily in the wind before returning to rest on her collarbones. A cup of tea lay forgotten by her side wreathing her in steam; occasionally her hand would come down to curl around the cup but it never quite made it up to her mouth. 

Suddenly Kyo was reminded of a ballet performance Shishou took him to see when he was a child. He had hated it and thought it was pointless but something about the scene in front of him reminded him of the grace and power those ballerinas had in their bodies. Tohru wasn’t moving much but Kyo thought she was more beautiful sitting down with a book propped on her knee and a forgotten cup of tea than all the ballerinas in the world. He found himself wishing he had a camera to capture the moment. He found himself wishing he had a paintbrush and the skills to paint the scene. Surely such a painting would be priceless. 

Tohru had stopped reading. Her position remained unchanged but she was gazing into the distance with a half-smile on her face. Her thumb keeping her book open on her page but it was lying against her thigh half-forgotten. Kyo suddenly felt such reverence, that he was allowed the privilege of quietly watching the woman he loved. Openly and unashamed. Unafraid of the consequences. He was privileged because he could get up and quietly walk over to her, he sat down by her feet and placed his hand on the leg that was bent lightly cupping the back of her calf. Tohru jumped ever so slightly being brought back to the real world. It was immensely satisfying to see how as soon as she realised it was him she relaxed fully again. She didn’t move her legs to sit more politely or shy away from his touch. Instead she smiled at him so simply and happily that his heart felt like it might burst. As if to say that his presence completed her perfect afternoon.  
“what were you smiling to yourself about” Kyo asked, pulling the book gently out of her unresisting hand making sure to slip his thumb between the pages so she doesn’t lose her place.   
“Hana-chan recommended this book of poetry to me and this poem reminded me of you” Tohru said smiling but a pretty blush dusted her cheeks betraying the fact that it was still new for her to say things like this out loud.   
Kyo opened the book up to find the poem. He felt Tohru scoot up close to him so she could read over his shoulder. Her small hand resting casually on his arm as if it had always belonged there. He felt her side press into his in a way that would have caused him to transform not too long ago. The thrill this elicited of being able to be close to her was something he would never grow tired of. 

The poem was an English poem. The Orange by Wendy Cope. He began reading it out loud. When he got to the last stanza Tohru joined in her breath tickling the back of his neck as she whispered along.

The rest of the day was quite easy  
I did all the jobs on my list  
And enjoyed them and had some time over.  
I love you. I’m glad I exist. 

Kyo turned to pull Tohru close to him. Completely overwhelmed by love in that moment. He kissed her to tell her that he loved her too. He was glad they existed too. He kissed her because he could. He kissed her to tell her that he hoped every day for the rest of his life would be like today. As her delicate fingers came up to stroke his face he knew that she was kissing him to say that she loves him and that she’s glad she exists.   
If someone captured that image in a painting surely it would be priceless.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys hope you enjoyed it! Please leave comments/kudos. I live for interaction with other people who love this fandom as much as I do.
> 
> The poem is 'the orange' by Wendy cope which I would fully recommend as its so sweet
> 
> The title comes from the song/poem Woman (reading) by La Dispute which I used to inspire the whole scene. 
> 
> Also I hope this was ok! I wrote it almost in a daze at 2am :)


End file.
